Closure of Madaris at government educational institutes

Madaris at government educational institutes closed down
Lahore, Nov 2: The government has started checking record and security arrangements of
madaris besides education institutions. The madaris administration has also been
directed to maintain record of visitors as well as students and teachers.

The
government has also closed down madaris operating in the government educational
institutions and mosques and has also fixed timings of entry for prayers. Nobody
was allowed to stay in these mosques during night.

Meanwhile the remaining
educational institutions which were closed by the government for lack of
security arrangements will reopen today (Monday).

However, raiding teams
will strictly check the security arrangements and use its discretion to close
any school, college or university having unsatisfactory arrangements.
Intermediate Part I and II supplementary examination 2009 of the Board of
Intermediate & Secondary Education, Lahore, will also commence from today.

Meanwhile the government has allowed the private schools to recruit guards
who will be given necessary training by the government agencies.

The
government has also empowered the principals, headmasters/headmistresses to
supervise the security arrangements of their respective institution themselves.

It has directed the administrations of private schools and colleges to
inform the government on the completion of security arrangements including
CCTVs, walk-through gates, barriers/hurdles, eight feet high boundary wall,
posting of guards and maintenance of record of visitors.

The information to
this effect has to be sent on telephone No 03218420380 and to the EDO
education.

The Private Schools Management Association in its meeting chaired
by Adeeb Javedani again urged the government to provide security shelter to the
educational institutions. He also deplored the closure of primary schools.

'N' committed to promote national integrity PML-N leader Sheikh Kaiser
Mehmood has said that Nawaz Sharif is fully upholding national aspirations at
every forum.

He said Nawaz Sharif was considering it his prime duty to
promote Pakistan's cause during meetings with the foreign diplomats, as he tried
his level best to explain in detail the Pakistani people's reservations about
Kerry-Lugar Act with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said country's
solidarity and national interests are the priority agenda of PML-N.

In a
statement issued here on Sunday, he further said the federal government should
adopt far reaching constructive steps for restoring people's confidence, adding
that besides the use of force against terrorism, its permanent political
solution should be sought. The nation

King Edward Medical University without nephrology unit
Lahore: King Edward Medical University (KEMU) lacks a
nephrology unit and under-training doctors consult other institutions for
relevant work to complete their degrees.

It has been more than five years
since KEMU has been granted the status of a university, but the oldest medical
institution in the country has still not been able to facilitate doctors
pursuing Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons
(FCPS).

This strengthens the view that the institution did not qualify to
be a chartered medical university, causing the critics demanding the government
to reverse the decision.

FCPS is a postgraduate degree completed in four
to five years of extensive theoretical and practical work. It is compulsory for
all students to spend first two years in the departments of Nephrology,
Neurology, Cardiology and Intensive Care Unit to complete the
programme.

However, the KEMU does not have the department and leaving all
patients without proper care in the departments of chronic renal failure,
dialysis, urology and all other ailments related to kidneys.

The senior
doctors and professors who had already completed their studies from other
institutes were serving in these wards, while the KEMU students could not study
there.

The university administration officials said that the
establishment of the unit was already planned, while they had allocated three
seats of a professor, associate professor and assistant professor for the
department.

However, two of three seats were still vacant while Dr Anees
has been posted associate professor so far. The postgraduate students said the
pace of developing the nephrology unit was so slow that it was unlikely for the
current batch to benefit from the facility.

Young Doctors Association
leader Dr Salman Kazmi said that the university was already
developing a nephrology unit, which was a positive step, but the process should
be completed as soon as possible.

He said the postgraduate students had
to personally request the Sheikh Zayed Hospital or Jinnah Hospital
administrations to let them serve in their nephrology wards and complete their
degrees.

Staff shortage: Explaining the issue, KEMU Vice-Chancellor (VC)
Prof Dr Zafarullah Khan said that the unit had already been
established but was not active due to shortage of staff. He said the university
was appointing faculty and other staff, while a highly qualified Associate
Professor Dr Anees had already been serving in the unit.

To a question,
he said it was the medical superintendent's job to establish a nephrology ward
in Mayo Hospital and not his. He said after completion of the surgical tower
within the next six months, a proper nephrology ward would be set up there with
350 beds. He said the hospital was treating more than 14,000 patients of
nephrology per year.

The VC disclosed that there was a five percent
shortage of staff in the university due to the government's appointment policy.
He said the government had not appointed any staff in the KEMU on a regular
basis since 1994, which caused the staff shortage.

He said it
was a routine for doctors to go to other institutions and added the KEMU also
received many students from other colleges. Criticising the Young Doctors
Association, he said some people were not feeling comfortable with the stern
merit policy of the institution and spread rumours about lack of facilities in
the university without considering the cost their institution had to bear as a
result. Daily times

Schools closure criticised
Lahore: President All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association Adib
Jawadani has said that the decision of ordering closure of private schools by
the Punjab government due to lack of security arrangements has caused severe
problems for the parents. Addressing a press conference on Sunday along with
other members of the association, Jawadani said this decision of the government
had affected the education of nearly five million students of the province. He
said even Minister for Interior Rehman Malik and Law Minister Punjab Rana Sana
Ullah Khan had admitted that it was hard for the government to tackle suicide
bombers. He asked how private schools could combat the terrorists if the
administration was unable to solve the problems. The news